Thursday, 22 February 2024

North-Eastern Metropolitan Region

Nick McGOWAN (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:49): (703) My question is for the Minister for Health, and it relates to the Maroondah Hospital. I will continue to call it Maroondah Hospital as long as I breathe. That is of course because this government took the ridiculous decision last year to change the name to the Queen Elizabeth hospital. Neither the locals nor I agree with this decision, and we will continue to fight it. It is important because the applications for expressions of interest in the master plan and feasibility study, notwithstanding the funding is already there for these projects, closed last July. We are now, I am told by this website of the department, in the process of shortlisting, so I would like also to know whether the shortlisting has been completed. But perhaps more importantly for the Minister for Health: when can the good people of my district of Ringwood expect a shovel to be going into the ground and for the hospital to actually proceed? As we all know, they promised this back in 2018; it never happened. That was a children’s emergency department – absolute failure; it never happened, sadly. They promised it again in 2022. We are more than a year into this term of government and not a shovel in the ground, not a shortlist. They have to get on and do this for the good people of Ringwood and surrounding districts.

Sitting suspended 12:51 pm until 2:03 pm.